Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Joe's really late movie reviews (aka Hollywood sucks)

My daughter taped "Dangerous Minds," the mid-1990s school saga with Michelle Pfeiffer. Seen this story in other movies a dozen times (and done better), and who actually thought Pfeiffer was well-cast for this? Once again, the "kids" all look 28 years old.Then there's "The Good Shepherd," the recent DeNiro film that was so slow and dull it could put a nation to sleep. Zap me with a Taser, it was plodding. And Matt Damon wins the prize for character with absolutely no charisma or personality. I only watched it because another offspring of mine ordered it on PPV and (no surprise) fell asleep while watching it.

Gotta disagree with you on "The Good Shepherd." If you're going to tell a story about the CIA, then "charisma" goes out the window. The CIA doesn't want charisma. They hire amorphous people who blend into the beige wallpaper of life. The kind of people you're always surprised to hear were capable of doing what the CIA does. So if Matt Damon lacks "charisma" in the role, then he did a good job of inhabiting the role of a CIA agent. The whole interchange with Joe Pesce about the role of WASPs in America is incredibly effective as well and is one of those movie moments that hang with you.